The decision had been awaited with apprehension for several weeks: Adidas France, a subsidiary of the German brand with the three stripes, has just resolved to consolidate all of its administrative services in one place, to keep only its Parisian headquarters. The reorganization should be effective by September 2024. The equipment manufacturer will then have emptied the premises it has occupied since 2018 in the brand new “Archipel” business district, north of Strasbourg. Adidas is however linked to the owner of the premises (Groupama) by a nine-year lease.
Some 140 employees are affected by this relocation, initiated at the end of two years of pandemic which, it is true, saw the presence of employees in the offices melt away. They were still 200 when the premises were inaugurated four years ago. To enable them to continue their careers with Adidas, the company has planned to demonstrate a “unprecedented flexibility” by using up to 80% of telework. That is three to eight days per month only on site, depending on the type of position, the rest of the activity taking place at home. The possibility for employees to have coworking spaces in the Alsatian capital was however rejected by management.
Local anger
“We are told that this merger should allow the two teams to meet and create a corporate culture, but I find it difficult to understand how this will be implemented when we allow employees to have a high percentage of teleworking. How will people who decide not to continue with Adidas do, under what conditions will they be able to leave? »says Olivier Apell, union delegate SASA (Autonomous Union of Adidas employees).
The hypothesis of a social plan cannot be ruled out. It angers the representatives of the four local authorities concerned (City of Strasbourg, Eurometropolis, European Community of Alsace and Grand-Est Region), who mobilized a few weeks ago to convince the group’s CEO, Kasper Rorsted, that Adidas “has every reason to choose Alsace and Strasbourg”. “This quick and brutal decision was taken with a total lack of transparency and consultation”thus denounces Pia Imbs, president of the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg.
Adidas has been present in Alsace since 1959, when the founder, Horst Dassler, launched his French subsidiary in the small town of Dettwiller, known for its know-how in the manufacture of shoes, before building its headquarters a few kilometers away, in Landersheim. The group then employed up to 2,000 people in the region, before relocating all of its production to Asia. He will soon only have one ” factory Outlet “ and some warehouses.